Affirm it....be it!

Moving onward.   I am currently reading a book. I won this book on a blog a while back.  It's called Burn theFat Feed the Muscle   by Tom Venuto.  I'm not very far in yet, but something has already sparked a nerve for me.  The author has built his ideas and programs around the principles of bodybuilding, but clearly states that these principles tie into losing weight and toning up...that body building is only the medium that clearly figures out the regime that works well. (He does make a convincing argument for this fact).   He made a comment at the beginning that recommends that we all start out by making a statement.  "I am a bodybuilder"  and encourages us all to substitute bodybuilder with whatever our goal is.  "I am a runner."   "I am a fitness athlete".  I am a whatever we strive to be."      He states that when we make affirmations like this that we will reach our goals faster.  "It's miraculous how the words you use to describe yourself can shape your identity, change your self image, and, in turn, change your behavior."

How true is that?   So true.  Last spring I was struggling through the couch to 5k program, yet I was running religiously 3-4 times a week.  I called myself a runner.  I was a runner.  I was doing it and my mind accepted the aches and pains that were associated with being that runner.  I accepted the cold weather runs (although nothing like the cold snap we are currently suffering through).  I accepted it all. I believed it.  I made the affirmation and I did it.  After my foot issues I stopped running regularly and stopped calling myself a runner.  All of a sudden the aches and pains associated with running seemed insurmountable.  The discipline that I needed to complete my runs was mysteriously missing.  I got out there on occasion...but I wasn't the same.  You see, I had stopped calling myself a runner...and I had stopped believing it.

(How ironic, as I'm sitting here in my warm toasty house writing this I see a runner out in the brutal cold running...hmmmm)

This affirmation stuff carries over into everything.  Affirm that I am...and BE!

I'm working to keep my picture a day rolling......

Terri one of my Zumba peeps

snow plow